Letter 46

May 7, 2012

Hola!

Haha that’s so funny that Austin has been watching Lord of the Rings... because I just barely had a sudden desire to watch it! We have MoTab's "Showtime" CD and they have a Lord of the Rings song on there. Remember when they sang it at Priesthood session? Oh my goodness... it was beautiful. That darn little Catholic School Boy sure had some pipes. Elder Curletti and I were listening to it today on the way over to pick up the other elders and he made the comment that he imagines the Lord of the Rings song playing when the battle of Armagedon is over and he’s standing on the battlefield holding the Title of Liberty while walking into the sunset. I obviously agreed. That CD also has The Circle of Life on there sung by Alex Boye’ and it is THE BEST SONG IN THE WORLD. Elder Curletti and I were singing our hearts out, once again while we were heading to pick up the other elders. I felt the spirit.

This week was pretty awesome. The last few weeks we have been struggling to find. We were going by members, knocking on doors, talking with everyone that we could, and no one was interested. I was SUPER discouraged. I really was lacking in faith and I felt bad because it was also affecting Elder Curletti. He even told me to try and be a little more positive. SO... Friday I fasted all day to have the faith to find. And it worked. The next day I was happy and energetic. We were talking with everyone that we could. Then we found Maggie. We had planned on going by Jesse and Krystal’s, but they weren’t home so we decided to knock around a bit... so we knocked on the apartment next to them and found Krystal's cousin, Maggie that lives there. We contacted her and then invited her to church and she accepted. So the next day, Sunday, Maggie came to Church with Jesse and Krystal and had a great time! We had a lesson with her that night at Jesse and Krystal's set a fecha for her to be baptized on June 3rd! It was great! She really is and awesome girl. And now E. Curletti and I have some ganas to move the work forward in Donna!

Also in Church Jesse received the Priesthood and he and Krystal got callings!! haha I was SO excited! Every time I see them in church I see them progress. Krystal is going to be a primary teacher and Jesse is going to be the guy that rings the bell! Haha I'm so happy for them!

This week I have a 2 day leadership training over in McAllen for Trainers, District Leaders, and Zone Leaders on Wednesday and Thursday; so my son is going to be taking over the area with Elder Ferrel. It’s going to be great! I'm going to get to see a bunch of my friends in the mission that I haven’t seen in forever, like Elder Hunt!

Yeah mom you can definitely send me some CTR rings in Spanish tambien. Muchisimo gracias!

I will probably call you on Friday to set up the call for Saturday or Sunday.

I love you and I can’t wait to see all the changes that you all are making to the house! Keep up the good work! Also It’s good to hear that you’re sending letters to my good ol’ buddy Elder Brown all the way over there in Chile! He's a great kid and I love him and his family. Good luck at the Price is Right Auntie Tye!

I love you all and I hope you have a great week! Good luck on your tests Madi!

-Elder Jordan Stewart

Letter 45

April 30, 2012

Hola Ya'll,

It was a pretty tough week for our goals. It started off really well. Elder Duke gave us a great training in District Meeting about getting members to help with the work. Members are the KEY! Did you all know that only 1/1000 people are baptized from tracting. And if you as members just give us the name of someone and we go by and tell them you sent us it goes up to 8%. BUT when you personally come with us and introduce us it moves up to 34%. AND FINALLY when you introduce us and let us teach your friends in your home 2/3, I REPEAT, TWO-THIRDS, 660/1000 people are baptized!!  SO HELP THE MISSIONARIES! Hahaha. We also talked about how if we concentrate our efforts on Less Actives and Part Member Families we are going to have success. The Spirit was really strong and E.Duke had me bare my testimony of reactivating members. I reactivated a family back in Corpus that I absolutely love. And they are still doing great! So I bore my testimony of the importance of that. Then E. Chick, Zone Leader, bore a powerful testimony and promised us that if we would concentrate on strengthening the Ward, including the less actives and the part members, we would find success. Even if we don’t have success with the LA or PM the Lord will bless us with people to teach. So, Elder Curletti and I set out to find some Less Active members in our area and tried to work with them. While we were looking we found a really awesome girl who we taught the restoration to and now she is reading the Book of Mormon and searching to know if its true. We also were blessed to teach a Part Member family last night, who were a referral from their member parents. I know these were the fulfillment of E.Chick's promise, and I know that more people like her will be found as we strengthen the Ward.

E.Curletti is doing well. He understands things so clearly. It’s kinda hard to train him sometimes because he seems so comfortable and I just assume that he knows what to do sometimes. The 12 week program is going well. I know that its not just meant for him, but for me as well. I'm really the one being trained. He and I are really starting to get a long. He's a really cool kid. Haha I think I made him sound a lot more nerdy than he really is. He's great! This week we are really going to focus on inviting the spirit into our lessons. E.Duke has shown us a great example for that and he has really inspired me to focus on that for our companionship this week. We're going to start singing hymns in our lessons to invite the spirit.

Its good to hear that everyone back home is doing well. That stinks that Chase is struggling to find roomies... I would totally move in if I was home and had a well paying job. But... That probably won’t happen for at looooong time. My resume’ is pretty sparce. Oh, and I’m on a mission. But good luck Chase! I love you! Turn the extra room into a trampoline room!!

That good to hear that your still hanging out with the Browns! They’re great people! I definitely love that family and miss my Auntie Tye! Tell Brother Brown I’m sorry his mouth is having trouble. I hope everything goes well at the Price is Right! Is Bob Barker still alive...? Some one just told me Drew Carey is the new host! What the.....? Good for him that he's lost all that weight, but I miss the fat Drew. WHO'S LINE IS IT ANYWAY!

Mom I would like you to send me some stuff in my next package... and I actually wrote it down so I remember! 1. Some little CTR rings to give to little kids. 2. The Mormon Messages DVD's, I know they sell one DVD from like 2009 but if they have the new one out I would like that one too. 3. A movie called "Journey of Faith" I think that's what its called. It follows Nephi's journey in the wilderness and kinda proves the Book of Mormon true. If you can find it that would be great. Other than that... I don’t need anything else. Thanks!

I forgot all the other questions you asked me... Oh yeah. The food is great. Nothing too out of the ordinary haha. Lots of mexican food. Lots of trips to the bathroom! hahaha jk.

I love you all so much and I hope you all have a great week! 

-Elder Jordan Stewart